Beat the Hosepipe Ban: 5 Tips to Keep Garden Planters Looking Great

The UK and Europe are experiencing more extreme heat during summertime. In order to help conserve water, many areas of the UK can expect horse pipe bans. There are ways as a gardener you can help beat the hosepipe ban. Here are 5 tips to keep your planters looking great whilst helping the nation conserve water.

Mulching

Help the soil retain moisture by adding a mulch on top of the soil around the base of the plants. There are a variety of mulches to choose from; wood chips, grave, leaf mold or grass cuttings. Leaf mold or grass cuttings from your own lawn will not cost you anything. There is also minimum climate footprint associated with them, other than the lawn mower used to cut them. Using a manual push mower has the manufacturing process associated with it, but no additional fuel to run it.

Planters on Wheels

Most planters when planted up with soil and plants are too heavy to move. But wooden planters that have been fitted with coasters, will allow you to move the planters about the garden. Making it much easier to move the planters into a shadier area of the garden. This will help protect the plants from scorching and loosing precious water. It also means generally you can more the planters about the garden as you like.

Self Watering Planters

Use self watering planters, there are many types to choose from. Such as Lechuza Planters, they have an extensive range of self watering planters, suitable for outside or interiors. They come in a range of size, design types and colours all with 3 year warranty. They also have some impressive green credentials too. The liners are made from 100 recycled material, 70% of water used in the production comes from cisterns. The planters are fully recyclable, plus they also reuse 100% of plastic waste in production.

It can be difficult to find information on how sustainable an item or a company is when shopping at a garden centre or any shop for that matter. If only this kind of environmental information was clearly available for every product consumers buy.

Plant Heat Loving Plants

Planting up your pots with varieties of plants that are more suitable to hotter climates is the way to go. Succulents will tolerant the heat well, they also require less watering, as do Lavenders. If you need more help with picking drought tolerant plants take a trip to your local garden centre.

Beat the Hosepipe Ban and Put a Sock In It!

Add a few old socks to the bottom of any hanging baskets or smaller planters. These will help keep the water in the basket, and prevent the water from immediately running straight out of the bottom of the basket. It will then help retain an amount of water in the soil.

All these tips together can really help you garden in a way that will help you to beat the hosepipe ban.